Judgment Day
by Matt Burnside
Summary: Judgment Day has happened. Not many have survived. Some are captured by Skynet and put in concentration camps. Others join the Resistance. Second chapter is now up, please read and review!
1. John Connor

Chapter 1:

"John Connor"

_"I should have realized our destiny was never to stop Judgment Day. It was merely to survive it." – John Connor_

"I got frustrated every time I thought about it. I should have known it. I'm smarter than that. Most people would think I was scared then, but I wasn't. I knew better. I was raised better. I knew mankind as we knew it needed me and Katherine. The world couldn't afford a scared John Connor. They needed a savior.

Me and Katherine were trying to stop Judgment Day by trying to destroy Skynet before it started. I had done it once, thinking I actually stopped it, but I only postponed it for ten years.

I escaped the grids and lived life as a bum. My mother, Sarah Connor, died of leukemia during that time period. Jesus, I miss her. If it wasn't for her, mankind would have no chance. Skynet attempted to kill her by sending one of their machines after her before I was born and stop me from leading a rebellion to save humans, but they failed. I was born nine months later.

However, my mom tried to destroy Cyberyne when I was a kid, but she failed and was sent to a hospital. I was put in a foster home, where I grew up before I became a teenager. I thought she was a nut when she had told me the stories…until he showed up. He was a T-800. I called him Uncle Bob so no one would know he was what he was.

A little after that, I learned that he was to obey every one of my orders. He and I broke my mom out of Pescadero. Knowing that she wasn't crazy after all, I loved her too much to let her stay in the hell hole for trying to help the world.

We succeeded at destroying Cyberdyne and Uncle Bob sacrificed himself to rid the world of the last thing that was remotely related to the terminators. We thought we stopped Judgment Day. But as I said before, we only postponed it.

Ten years later, I was the bum. I thought Judgment Day was non-existent. But I was wrong. I was proved wrong when Katherine and I ran into each other again. In her vet office. Another model was sent to our time. The T-X, a more advanced model. This time, however, the terminator targeted civilians who _were_ destined to help me in my fight for mankind. It was only by coincidence that she stumbled upon me. I thought I was doomed. This time, I didn't have a protector to help me or the equipment to defeat Skynet's greatest model I had seen. I was proved wrong once again when an upgraded T-850 arrived to aid Katherine and me. I learned later that Katherine sent him from the future to help, and he was the same machine that kills me in the future. I'm sure, though, that that event has been altered.

Katherine and I traveled to Skynet to try to stop her father from triggering Judgment Day. Her father lied and told us we could stop it at Crystal Peak. When we arrived there, I realized he had tricked us, but for a good reason. He wanted us to survive the attack. I started to hear voices. Voices of military men. I started to give orders and giving them information of what was happening. One thing leads to another and here I am the leader of what will hopefully be the resistance army against the machines. It will be Tech-Com versus Skynet and I have no plans of us losing."


	2. Michael Warren

Chapter 2:

"Michael Warren"

"My name, as you know, is Michael Warren. Right now, I'm 27. I was twenty five when the nuke hit. I grew up in the south. A small town in northern Arkansas. Mountain Home, Arkansas. I was born and raised there. My mom taught me all about life. She was a single mother, with two other kids. My brother and my sister. We lived in a trailer that was practically falling apart with our grandmother.

After that, I was moved several places in the span of my lifetime. I was still mainly raised in Arkansas, but I got a taste of the United States throughout my life. I lived in many states along the east coast like Ohio, West Virginia, and New York. I even lived in other parts of America like Colorado, Arkansas, of course, and Oregon when I graduated high school.

To this day, I thank the good lord above that I moved to Oregon. If I still lived in Colorado, God knows I'd be in one of those concentration camps run by Skynet and I wouldn't be here right now, about to go on one of the most important missions that mankind will ever embark on. After the nuke, I didn't have very long of a distance to go to get her to California.

I will always remember that day. I won't remember what day, or what hour, but it will be like it was yesterday. It was the most important thing in my life. More important than going to prom, learning how to drive a car, graduating, or even losing my virginity.

I remember what I was doing, where I was. I even remember what I was watching on television. I was making dinner at my house in Oregon. A rerun of Friends was airing on TBS. I think it was the one where Phoebe had her triplets. That was kind of a sad episode. Anyhow, it had seemed like any normal day to me. After I was finished with my meal, I went outside to enjoy a nice sit on the porch, wanted to see the sun set, you know. That's when I noticed the peculiar object soaring in the sky.

My gut instinct told me to go in the cellar once my porch light shut off. I ran into my house and turned on my personal computer, but it wouldn't turn on. I thought it was some sort of EMP or something. Kind of like on War of the Worlds. I decided to go with my guy instinct and grabbed my most personal belongings and headed into my storm cellar in my back yard. It was different than most cellars. I built it far into the ground, basically afraid of an attack after 9/11. I was so paranoid, I put a little communication center in it, in case I needed to alert someone I had survived an attack. I'm certainly glad I was paranoid, because it saved my life!

I could feel when the nuke hit because the ground shook violently. I grabbed the sides of the huge radio in the cellar for support. Then the shake went as quickly as it came. 'What the hell was that,' I had asked myself. There was no answer…

My first action was play around with the radios and try to reach someone to learn what the hell was happening. For a few days, I hadn't reached anyone. During those two days, I slept in my cot that I put in the cellar and I lived off of canned goods. Now, if I even see canned green beans, I'll throw up.

In the shelter, I had the communication center, my little bed, food, and a little restroom. If I focused, I could survive in something like that for months on end.

Anyways, about a few weeks after the attack, I started to hear voices on the radios. I immediately got out of bed and started to press buttons and turn dials. Then, I heard General Connor's voice. So, I spoke back. He informed me that there were survivors stationed in California and he gave me the exact coordinates.

I took a good look at a map I had and knew exactly where he was speaking from. I thought I was going to live! Until I heard a crash on the shelter's door. I didn't know what it was, but I grabbed my shotgun from next to my bed (hey, I'm southern) and hid in a dark corner after turning off all the lights.

One by one, five of those _things_ walked into my shelter, scanning the place for survivors. One shot my radios. Another examined my canned foods. I was scared shitless. Not many people knew that kind of fear before Judgment Day. I was afraid for my life. Who knew what kind of eyesight they had. I was lucky they couldn't smell me or something like that.

Four of the terminators left, but one stayed and oddly stood straight in a stance as if it were awaiting orders from a general. I hadn't taken a breath the entire time. I was deciding if I wanted to run for my truck or try to kill this thing. I decided the former as I bolted for the stairs. The machine immediately started shooting at me, but missed. I reached the top of the stairs, breathing hard under intense pressure, and spotted my truck, thanking God it wasn't destroyed by the explosion.

Just my luck though; the other four terminators were stationed about thirty yards from the shelter's door. They all started firing at me, but barely missed me as I jumped the corner behind my house. I started to breath heavier. My truck was still in view, but in the machines' views as well.

Deciding I had nothing to lose, I jolted for the car, having shots fired at me spontaneously. I somehow survived and got in the truck, keeping my head low. I had a full tank of gas, enough to get me to Crystal Peak. I turned on the ignition (I never take my keys out unless I'm in public) and stomped on the gas. I started down a path with shots still following me. The terminators started to run towards me!

In panic, I started to slow down, letting the terminators catch up. I had a plan. Once they got close enough, I hit the brakes and they all ran into the car and fell back. Then I turned a corner where they couldn't see me.

After a few minutes, I sighed in great relief. They weren't behind me anymore. My happy thoughts were cut off when I looked in the rearview mirror and saw one of their faces in the bed of my truck. Startled, I swerved from left to right but I maintained control on the road.

Suddenly, the machine's fist punched through my roof and stopped right next to my head. 'Oh, shit!' I yelled as I lay back in the seats. Then, the machine's metallic face appeared in the hole its fist had made. Quickly, I took my shotgun from the floorboard and cocked it. Before it could move, I shot it. The bullet didn't destroy it, but the power had thrown the small model in the air and it fell out of the bed.

Luckily, it didn't have a gun, so it didn't shoot at me, but it got up again and started to chase me. _Better than five_, I thought to myself. I couldn't think of what to do. The thing was rapidly catching up. I put one hand on the wheel and turned on my radio. 'Seek and Destroy' by Metallica blasted from the speakers. I was very glad that worked. Then, with my other hand, I grabbed the shotgun and hit the glass window behind me with the heel of the gun.

Using the opportunity, I stretched my arm with the gun behind me and set the gun on the window frame. The road was wide, so I knew I'd be alright. I steadily aimed at the machine chasing me and shot! The terminator was pushed back and it rolled down the hill. I turned back around and retained full control of my truck. Just as the guitar solo hit, I roared over a small bump and turned onto a highway I knew.

While driving smoothly, I finally took the time to observe all the surrounding areas. The forests that used to be next to that highway were gone. Even the small lake was dried up. A tear rolled down my cheek. I always loved nature, and now it was gone. The sun was barely even shining. So many clouds were covering the sky. It was dark, but the clock in my truck said it was only one in the afternoon.

After about half an hour of driving in the wreckage, I pulled into a familiar town that I knew. I drove around and realized the machines hadn't gotten to this town yet, fortunately for me.

I drove to a shop that I knew. It was a gun shop. I stopped in front of it and hopped out. The shop was almost destroyed, but some of it was still standing up. But I knew there was a basement underneath the shop that the old man kept the good stuff in.

It took about half an hour just to get all the wreckage out of the way so I could find the trap door down to the basement. But once I was done, I slowly walked down the stairs with my shotgun at my side.

In the basement, I saw many weapons that were to my liking. There was one that caught my eye. It was a mini-gun that I could station in the bed of my truck. I had always wanted it, but Phil, the shop keeper, wanted it incase he ever needed it. Apparently, he didn't need it anymore. After half and hour of hauling, I finally loaded the back seat of my truck with the guns from the basement in the shop and I loaded the mini-gun turret on the back of my truck. Before I hopped back in truck to head to California, I heard a ruffling noise.

Out of instinct, I grabbed my shotgun and ducked behind my truck. Then I heard a soft voice say, 'Is someone there?'

I slowly stood up and looked over the truck. A lady was slowly walking towards my truck. 'Who are you,' I asked, observing her closely, but not aiming my gun. I knew that if she was a person, she was alone in that town.

'I…I'm Helen Reese,' she whispered. She was obviously worried, but it seemed like she trusted me by giving me her full name.

'So, you survived the attack?' I had assumed. In an answer, she quietly nodded her head, looking down.

'Where are you going?' she asked, observing the load in my truck.

'I'm heading toward California. I got in contact with some survivors there and I'm going to meet with them at Crystal Peak.'

'Do you have enough room for another?' she asked with an innocent face. I couldn't say no to a woman in dire need of help. I nodded and guided her into my truck.

I'll always remember that woman. I never really knew her the day I met her, but on our way to California, I got to know how great she really was. The second day of my trip, we were heading on an abandoned road that was never used so I wouldn't be spotted by the machines. It was very quiet, so we started to talk. We talked about our pasts and such. Where we grew up, stuff like that.

After a while, I started to realize I had feelings for this woman. She was very beautiful. He sandy blond hair was short, but sometimes covered the pretty face but her emerald green eyes always shone through.

One night, we set camp at the halfway point. This night is almost as devastating to me as Judgment Day was. I remember we were sitting down in front of the fire I made (thank God for my boy-scout training, eh?), warming up. She was still cold so I took off my jacket and wrapped it around her.

'I just wanted to thank you for bringing me with you,' she said with her soft voice. Her eyes had met mine and I smiled.

'It was my pleasure,' I told her, glad that I did bring her with me. Slowly, our lips got closer and they touched for a brief moment. Before we pulled away, I held her close to me and warmed her tongue with mine. She returned the kiss and we both lied down.

I don't want to go into detail, but after a few minutes, we made love; then and there. After we did, we both fell asleep in each others' arms. We had left all of our cares for the time being behind us.

However, they all came crashing back when I heard footsteps near the campsite when I was in the forest, peeing. I came back and saw those pieces of metal taking her away. I didn't have a weapon on me and I couldn't do anything. She was sobbing uncontrollably and she looked into the forest, looking for me. Our eyes met and I thought quietly, _Don't worry. I'll save you soon_. Believing in true love connection, I knew she acknowledged my thought. She slowly looked forward and walked into the hovering craft that was operating itself. The craft slowly rose in the air and flew off. There were still three machines left, scouting the area.

I slyly maneuvered around the area and snuck behind my truck. The machines were looking the opposite way, so I jumped into the bed and aimed my turret at those sons of guns. They turned around, detecting the noise, but I shot at them all before they could react.

The kick of the gun was so violent my hands were shaking, but I continued to aim and kill the bastards. They each went down with each shot I made. I saw another one, however, making its way toward me. 'You wanna piece of this?' I mocked it. 'Eat this!' I pressed hard on the trigger and the bullets shot fiercely at the machine. But then, something weird as heck happened.

The thing formed into a silvery smooth figure. The bullet went through it and created a large hole, but the hole closed itself. 'How the—'was all I could say.

To make things harder on me, the things arm changed into a blade. I jumped out of the bed and got into the front seat. I turned on the engine and hurried my ass out of there. I looked back in the rearview mirror and saw that the terminator didn't chase after me. It just stood there, watching my truck leave.

After a few minutes, I got onto another dirt road. The next few days had gone by a lot easier, however, until I ran into a man hiking along the dirt road. I pulled over in front of him and got out of my truck.

The man quickly collapsed on me and I took him into my truck, laying him down to sleep. I got back in and continued my drive. When he woke up, I learned his name was Scott. He had also been a survivor of the attack.

Throughout the following days, he and I took shifts driving towards California and soon enough, we passed the border.

God, I remembered how relieved I was when I realized Crystal Peak was only a few miles away. As I arrived at the bunker, I was welcomed by General Connor."


End file.
